GAME 12
Canisius (5-7) vs. Duquesne (6-5)
Monday, Dec. 22, 2025 | 7:00 p.m. ET
Pittsburgh, Pa. | UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse (3,500)
Stream: ESPN+ with Tim Benz (pxp) & Ellis Cannon (color)
Radio: 104.7 HD2 | iHeartRadio with Ray Goss ('58) (pxp) & Noah Buono ('22) (color)
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Opening Tip
- The Duquesne University men's basketball team returns to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse to conclude the non-conference portion of its 2025-26 schedule with a two-game homestand, opening with a 7:00 p.m. tip Monday, Dec. 22, against Canisius.
- The Dukes are
coming off a 78-75 setback at Nevada (Dec. 13) to conclude a two-game road trip against Mountain West Conference opponents. The Wolf Pack closed the game on a 9-4 burst to earn the victory after senior forward
David Dixon gave Duquesne a 71-69 edge with 1:53 remaining on a steal and dunk.
- Senior guard
Tarence Guinyard led all scorers in the contest with 21 points, shooting 5-for-11 from the field, including 5-for-8 from deep, and 6-for-7 at the free-throw line, while also dishing out a game-high five assists. It marked the third game of the year for Guinyard eclipsing the 20-point plateau after finishing with a season low in scoring (one point)
at Boise State (Dec. 10).
- Junior guard
Jimmie Williams added 14 points, four rebounds and a steal at Nevada, while off the bench redshirt senior guard
Maximus Edwards contributed 13 points and a pair of boards.
- Duquesne enters Monday's game ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage (.494) as well as fifth in scoring offense (83.6 ppg).
- The 2025-26 season marks the 110th year of Duquesne basketball. The Dukes started play in 1913-14 (DU did not field a team in 1944-45-46 due to World War II). Thanks to
an 83-63 victory over Niagara (Nov. 3) in its 2025-26 season opener, Duquesne earned program victory No. 1,500.
- In today's day and age of college basketball with the NCAA Transfer Portal, Duquesne offers senior forward
David Dixon, who will play his final season with the Dukes in 2025-26 and has spent his entire career on the Bluff. Dixon, 6'9" and 230 pounds, owns career totals of 633 points and 458 rebounds and is just the second player in program history to eclipse career totals of both 100 blocks and 100 dunks.
- Dixon is one of just four players in the Atlantic 10 this season that have spent their entire career with one program, joining 6'10" forward Sean Logan of Davidson, 6'10" forward Christian Fermin of VCU and 6'11" center Mike Walz of Richmond. Ironically, each of the four student-athletes to have played their entire career at one institution are post players.
- Redshirt senior guard
Maximus Edwards scored 10 points
in a 92-80 win over Sacred Heart (Nov. 7) to reach exactly 1,000 points for his career. Named the 2023 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Edwards scored 722 in two seasons at George Washington before transferring to the Bluff and has scored 351 points in his time at Duquesne. He owns a career scoring average of 10.2 points in 105 games at the NCAA Division I level thanks to 1,073 points.
- The Dukes will wrap up the non-conference slate after hosting the Golden Griffins by taking on Cleary Saturday, Dec. 27, in a 2:00 p.m. tip at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse before closing out the calendar year with their Atlantic 10 opener at Davidson (Dec. 30).
At The Helm – Dru Joyce III was named the 18th head coach in the 110-year history of Duquesne basketball March 28, 2024, and in his second year at the helm in 2025-26. He owns an overall record of 19-24 (.442) in his first head coaching job. Joyce III, a native of Akron, Ohio, spent two seasons as associate head coach for the Dukes under Keith Dambrot from 2022 to 2024, helping guide Duquesne to an overall record of 45-25 (.643), including a 20-16 (.556) mark in the Atlantic 10, during that span. The Dukes made an appearance in the 2023 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) before earning the automatic bid for the A-10 in the 2024 NCAA Championship by winning four games in five days en route to the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championship crown in Brooklyn, N.Y., at the Barclays Center. Duquesne, as a No. 11 seed, made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1977 and earned its first victory in the championship since 1969 thanks to a 71-67 win over No. 6 seed BYU in Omaha, Neb., at CHI Health Center Arena.
Scouting the Golden Griffins – Member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) ... Located in Buffalo, N.Y. ... Monday marks the 17th meeting in the all-time series between Duquesne and Canisius, with the Dukes owning a 10-6 (.625) edge ... Each of the last three games between the two programs have been home games for Duquesne, including
a 78-77 loss in the last outing (Nov. 18, 2016) as part of the Bluegrass Showcase ... In that contest Phil Valenti's jumper from the free-throw line with 1.9 seconds left gave Canisius the win and snapped an 11-game non-conference winning streak for the Dukes ... Former Dukes Tarin Smith and Emile Blackman each scored 18 points, while Isiaha Mike contributed 17 on 7-of-10 shooting ... The last win for Duquesne over Canisius came
Dec. 16, 2009, an 86-77 victory in two overtimes ... In the win B.J. Monteiro scored a career-high 27 points, including a driving layup with 4.9 seconds left to force the first overtime, while Bill Clark finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds ... Canisius is led by Jim Christian (Rhode Island '88), who is in his second season as head coach of the Golden Griffins ... Christian has been the head coach at Kent State (2002-08), TCU (2008-12), Ohio (2012-14) and Boston College (2014-21) ... The Golden Griffins are led by junior guard Kahlil Singleton, a transfer from Holy Cross who averages 11.3 points per game ... Junior forward Bryan Ndjonga contributes 10.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest ... Canisius is coming off a 62-45 loss at Rhode Island (Dec. 13) as Ndjonga finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and a pair of assists.
Nevada Leftovers – Duquesne fell to 2-1 (.667) all-time against the Wolf Pack in the first meeting between the two programs since 1971 ... The Dukes shot 39 percent (23-for-59) from the field and over the two games out West converted 40.2 percent (47-for-117) of their opportunities from the floor ... Duquesne was 11-of-33 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc at Nevada and 16-for-58 (27.6 percent) overall from deep in its two-game road trip ... Boise State and Nevada combined to shoot 51.6 percent (16-for-31) from international waters after the Wolf Pack finished 4-for-10 ... Junior guard
Jimmie Williams led the Dukes in scoring during their two-game swing with an average of 12.5 points per game ... Williams was one of four student-athletes to play both games on the road at Boise State and Nevada and average in double figures ... Despite a season-low one point at Boise State (Dec. 13), senior guard
Tarence Guinyard averaged 11.0 points over the two games thanks to a game-high 21 points against the Wolf Pack ... Guinyard posted a game-high five assists at Nevada as Duquesne finished with 16 dimes on its 23 field goals ... The Dukes shot a season-high 90 percent (18-for-20) at the free-throw line.
Castling – As Duquesne gets set to conclude its 2025 non-conference slate with a two-game homestand, junior forward
Jakub Nečas is in the midst of his best stretch of basketball on the Bluff. Over his last six games, Nečas has provided the Dukes with averages of 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game to go along with 1.3 steals and 1.0 block per contest. He's also been efficient during that stretch, shooting 62.5 percent (20-for-32) from the field, including 40 percent (4-for-10) from deep, and 81 percent (17-for-21) at the free-throw line. Nečas continues to knock on the door of his first career double-double at Duquesne, as well. In a 78-75 setback at Nevada (Dec. 13) in the last game for the Dukes, Nečas matched a career high in rebounds (10) while scoring seven points and adding four assists. It marks the fifth time this year Nečas fell just short of his first career double-double, and he's been even better in the last three games, almost averaging a double-double at 10.3 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting an even 50 percent (11-for-22) from the floor. Duquesne owns a record of 8-4 (.667) since the beginning of the 2023-24 season when Nečas scores in double figures.
Night of the Comet – While junior forward
Jakub Nečas has been a key factor for Duquesne in the post in recent weeks, arguably turning into the most consistent scorer for the Dukes is junior guard
Jimmie Williams. In the finale of a two-game road trip at Nevada (Dec. 13), Williams contributed 14 points, marking the sixth consecutive game he has scored in double figures. The longest active stretch by a member of the Dukes entering Monday's game against Canisius, Williams has produced averages of 15.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals per contest while shooting 54.7 percent (35-for-64) from the field and 88.2 percent (15-for-17) at the free-throw line. Included among that stretch is a three-game homestand at UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse in which Williams averaged 17.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Overall this season, Williams ranks fourth in the Atlantic 10 in steals (1.91 per game) and sits just outside the top 10 in scoring at 13.7 points per game, which ranks 12th. Since opening his Duquesne career just 2-for-7 at the free-throw line in the first three games of the year, Williams has converted 20 of his last 23 opportunities (87%).
Bounce Back – Senior guard
Tarence Guinyard bounced back in a big way in the finale of Duquesne's two-game road trip out West, scoring a game-high 21 points at Nevada (Dec. 13). Each of the five field goals in the contest for Guinyard came from beyond the arc, marking the second time this season and fourth time in his NCAA Division I career he's connected for at least five triples in a game. His career high of seven came as part of a 28-point performance a year ago at Southern Indiana (Dec. 21, 2024) while he was at Tennessee-Martin (UTM). Guinyard also handed out five assists against the Wolf Pack, and he enters Monday's game against Canisius ranked second in the Atlantic 10 in assists per game (5.1) and fifth in assist-to-turnover (2.07). Duquesne is 5-1 (.833) this season when Guinyard posts at least five assists in a game.
Did You Know? Duquesne enters Monday's game against Canisius trailing only Saint Louis (.516) among Atlantic 10 leaders in field goal percentage at 49.4 percent (322-for-652). That success rate also ranks 44th in NCAA Division I, while the Dukes also sit 48th in effective field goal percentage (.565) as well as 19th in fastbreak points per game (18.09). Duquesne has scored at least 20 points on the break in six of its 11 games.
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